http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/143902/moscow-putin-lubavitcher-library?all=1 By Avital Chizhik There was something surprisingly calm about the tiny Brooklyn courtyard of 770 Eastern Parkway, the address of the international headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch. Groups of Hasidic men passed by talking, clutching cellphones, laughing, carrying boxes of books. One morning this past March, I knocked on a heavy wooden…

Russian President Vladimir Putin, known for his extravagant animal adventures and standing up against the West, could be in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize. A group of his supporters have announced their nomination of the president for the prestigious prize. Why Putin? Beslan Kobakhia, vice president of the…

BAKU, Azerbaijan (JTA) — With less than a month to go until presidential elections, the moustachioed smile of Ilham Aliyev stares down at his countrymen from giant posters scattered around this bustling metropolis on the Caspian Sea. The Azerbaijani president has been in office since 2003 and is widely expected…

(JTA) — The alleged shooter of a rabbi in southern Russia was killed in a raid by Russian security forces. Sherif Akhmedov was one of five suspected extremists killed last week in Derbent, in the predominantly Muslim Republic of Dagestan near Chechnya, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement…